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A circular brooch formed of openwork Celtic knotwork together with a centrally collet-set cabochon moss agate. The reverse has a hinged steel pin with scroll safety clasp. Due to the delicate nature of the silverwork the Edinburgh hallmarks are slightly off-struck. Present are the maker’s mark ‘JH’ for John Hart, ‘IONA’, the Edinburgh town mark, and ‘thistle’ representing sterling silver, however the date letter has been lost.
John Hart trained as an engraver before joining the Glasgow silversmithing firm Celtic Art Industries. By the early 1950s he had established himself as an independent silversmith and sold much of his work to The Iona Shop which had branches in Glasgow and Oban. In 1979 he retired and his son (also called John) merged his own fledgling workshop with his father’s at Iochdar in South Uist.
Dimensions:
Diameter 3.6cm
Weight 9.9g